German

Almost all applications support German accents. Guidelines for typing and using accents are given below. If you need to refer to additional characters, look under the Accents section. Thanks to Franz Nagel for his technical assistance.

High German, Swiss German (Alemanisch) and "Low German"

There are three types of "German" which are really three distinct languages. The language called German is a form of High German (Hochdeutsch) referring to its origin in the Alps. It’s closely related to Yiddish and Pennsylvannia German (a.k.a Pennsylvania Dutch).

The form
of German used in Switzerland, sometimes called Alemannisch, is also a
"High German" (Alpine) form, but differs significantly from standard
High German of Germany.

Low German (Plattdeutsch) refers to the group of Germanic languages coming from coastal Europe (lowlands), particularly Saxony. However, this branch of Germanic also includes English, Dutch, Afrikaans and Frisian although English is no longer mutually intelligible with other Germanic languages on the continent of Europe.

About German Dialects

Windows ALT Codes

In Windows, combinations of the ALT key plus a numeric code from the number keypad can be used to type a non-English character in any Windows application.

See the detailed instructions on the ALT Code How To for complete information on implementing the code. Additional options for entering accents in Windows are also listed in the Accents section of this Web site.

German ALT Codes

Note: The letters ü, ö, ä and ß can be replaced by "ue", "oe", "ae" or "ss" respectively.

German ALT Codes

Sym

Windows ALT Code

Ä

ALT+0196

ä

ALT+0228

Ö

ALT+0214

ö

ALT+0246

Ü

ALT+0220

ü

ALT+0252

ß

ALT+0223

€

ALT+0128

Quick Examples

To input capital Ä (ALT+0196), hold down the ALT key then type 0196 (all four digits) on the numeric keypad. The ALT codes do not work with the row of number keys on the top.

Historical Stages

Low German (Plattdeutsch)

Low German languages are spoken to the north and are quite different from the High German forms. See the Dutch page for additional codes

pdt (Plautdietsch, "Low German")

nds (Low Saxon, Low Franconian)

sxu (Upper Saxon)

wep (Westphalien)

HTML Accent Codes

Use these codes to input accented letters in HTML. For instance, if you
want to type Müller, you would type M&uuml;ller.

The numbers in parentheses are the numeric codes assigned in Unicode encoding. For instance, because ü is number 252, M&#252;ller can also be used to input Müller. These numbers are also used with the Windows ALT
codes listed above.

Note: The letters ü, ö, ä and ß can be replaced by "ue", "oe", "ae" or "ss" respectively.

HTML Entity Codes

German HTML Codes

Sym

Entity Code

Ä

&Auml; (196)

ä

&auml; (228)

Ö

&Ouml; (214)

ö

&ouml; (246)

Ü

&Uuml; (220)

ü

&uuml; (252)

ß

&szlig; (223)

€

&euro;

European Quote Marks

Many modern texts use American style quotes, but if you wish to include European style quote marks, here are the codes. Note that these codes may not work in older browsers.